The invention relates generally to an airtight fuel burning heating apparatus and in particular to heating apparatus having a small size for burning either wood or coal.
For the past few years, the increase in the price of oil and gas fuels has promoted development of a plethora of wood and/or coal burning heating apparatus. The vast majority of the apparatus have been directed to providing a residential dwelling with heat to reduce the fuel consumption of or to eliminate the conventional oil or gas burner. The apparatus have also been employed as a replacement for the typical home fireplace which is itself an inefficient heater.
One class of particularly efficient stoves incorporate controlled air inlets. These stoves, often termed "airtight", can have many different configurations. Three of the airtight stoves which have been particularly successful are manufactured by the assignee of this invention and are capable of operation using a horizontal combustion principle. They are named the Defiant, the Vigilant, and the Resolute, all manufactured by Vermont Castings, Inc. of Randolph, Vt. These stoves have varying heat outputs and at maximum burning capacity can provide, in the Defiant stove, up to about 55,000 BTU's of energy. This large heat output, while desirable for heating large volumes, can clearly overpower the typical family room or den into which the stoves are often placed. As a result, the Resolute stove, a "small brother" to the Defiant and Vigilant stove family, was developed and is presently commercially available.
In addition, as the use of coal and wood becomes more popular, the Vigilant and Resolute stoves can provide the home user the option of operating his apparatus in either a coal burning or a wood burning configuration. However, even the smaller Resolute stove is still large, at least with respect to being employed in the typical opening of a residential fireplace. As a result, it became clear that a yet smaller stove, preferably capable of burning either coal or wood, would be necessary.
As the physical size of the stoves decreases, it also became apparent that merely scaling down the existing stoves would not be practical. Furthermore, it was desirable to simplify yet further the construction of the stoves while maintaining the high efficiency and reliability for which the Vermont Castings stoves were known. As a result, a new and novel design for a stove was developed.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a heating apparatus having a reduced physical size while maintaining high efficiency. Other objects of the invention are a heating apparatus having a simple and reliable construction, low manufacturing and assembly costs, and ease of maintenance. A further object of the invention is a heating apparatus capable of being configured to burn efficiently either coal or wood.